Could get a Big Mac on the way home tonight, after doing the radio show, just in time to settle down in front of the Apprentice... but I'm trying to save money and be healthy, so I could just have a frozen portion of chilli I made...

But because I lived in Scotland in the early 90s and thus consumed offal products during the mad cow disease era, I'm not allowed to give blood and guess I have a higher than average chance of dying from CJD. Thanks Britain!!

and on the form it had a question asking "Did you live in the UK for more than 6 months between date X and date Y?" I'm in Australia, my answer was Yes, so now they don't want my blood in case it contains any of those rogue proteins that cause your brain to turn into a kitchen sponge.

My understanding is that eating BSE-infected meat products can cause variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (the human version of mad cow disease) - not guaranteed, but enough of a risk to make the blood bank nervous about passing on my precious fluids.

There's no test you can do for it until the symptoms appear, and that can take years. Once you get it, there's no treatment or cure, and you can look forward to progressive dementia, hallucinations, seizures and gradual loss of motor skills (including swallowing & breathing) until you die. First symptoms to last rattling wheeze can be anything up to 2 years.

CJV is pretty rare so far, but the whole mad cow thing has epidemiologists spooked, as well as the fact that it wasn't until 2005 that they realised CJV could be passed on via blood transfusions. So the worst case scenario is the ticking time bomb one: within the next couple of decades we could see unprecedentedly large numbers of people turning into drooling gumbies.

Some people don't like haggis as it makes them think of eating bits of spiced and ground random innard, but they'll still happily eat a sausage or pork pie or something similar.

It's oaty, spicey random meat. Quite moist if cooked properly.

Best either, boiled/steamed in its skin then served with a whiskey gravy along with mashed potato and mashed swede or turnip or fried in slices as part of 'mixed grill' or fry up (alongside fried or scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, black puddings, beans, toast, fried or grilled tomato and mushrooms).